Case Number 13351

NEW STREET LAW: THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON

The Charge

Charlie: You look tired. Annie: Flattery will get you nowhere.
Charlie: Shame; 'cause I was going to say your bum looked big in that.

Opening Statement

The New Street chambers powder up their horsehair wigs for a second (and
final) season of courtroom drama.

Facts of the Case

Jack Roper (John Hannah, McCallum) and his chamber of defense lawyers
work downstairs from the prosecution chambers of his former mentor, Laurence
Scammel (Paul Freeman, Hot Fuzz), whose daughter Laura (Lisa
Faulkner,Murder in Suburbia) has recently defected to the defense team.
When last we saw our ensemble, Jack was being taken into custody, Charlie and
Annie were having a fling, and Joe had walked out on the practice, leaving Laura
to work on Jack's defense.

* "Episode 1" Jack has to fight for his personal and
professional life when he's charged with perverting the course of justice, but
he refuses to take advice from anyone. Charlie tries to keep a mouthy football
agent accused of theft from serving jail time.

* "Episode 2" A wife is suing her husband for donating
£40,000 on the advice of an angel, and Annie and Laura butt heads in court
and in chambers when they each represent a spouse. Jack defends a gangster he
once prosecuted for murder against drug smuggling charges.

* "Episode 3" Jack and Annie reunite with the barrister who
saved Jack's career when they represent one of a pair of teen girls charged with
murder, but their defense strategy falls apart when the other girl's mother
interferes. Charlie represents a woman whose botched collagen injections left
her with a pair of clown lips. The defense chambers have to make a decision on
whether to make Joe a permanent member, but Joe might beat them to the
punch.

* "Episode 4" Jack and Annie defend a father in a sexual
assault case where the victim recovered memories of her molestation under
hypnosis. Charlie goes to court on behalf of an old client who wants sports day
reinstated at his son's school.

* "Episode 5" Annie and Charlie represent a young boxer
accused of participating in a gang rape. When tragedy befalls a member of
chambers, the barristers scramble to keep one of their own out of jail, but Jack
may have gone too far.

* "Episode 6" Annie and Charlie are on opposite sides of the
court for a dog-bite case. When representing a neighborhood watch member who
killed a burglar, Jack and Laura find their simple case of self-defense
complicated by police interference and a special prosecutor who wants to make it
all about race.

The Evidence

The cliffhanger ending of Season One implied nothing was ever going to be the
same in the New Street defense chambers, but at the start of Season Two, it's
business as usual. Joe's back at his desk, Jack's up for bail, and Charlie and
Annie are starting what will be a season long game of "will they or won't
they?." In fact, the season's six episodes are full of annoying romantic
subplots and personal drama, always to the detriment of the court cases. We get
hints of interesting legal drama -- a man with a face like a KISS pincushion
charged with fraud, a drunk driver with a breathalyzer result four times over
the legal limit and a statement "that reads like a Tom Clancy" -- but
they're just excuses to get lawyers together for some sexual tension and never
take us past the courtroom doors.

Rather than growing with their increased screen time, the lawyers seem to be
stuck in a rut. Because the previous season didn't give the characters much in
the way of personal lives, there's little they can do except retread the same
ground over and over. Jack the rebellious lawyer becomes such a self-righteous
rule-breaker that he's nearly insufferable, so the only member of chambers
opposing him, ambitious new kid Joe, has been made arrogant and sulky to make
his boss look better. When we finally get to meet Charlie's wife and Al's
partner, it's as more fuel for the melodramatic fire. While previous character
revelations hinged on the buildup of hints over the season, silly twists are
dropped into the mix to make for extra drama, culminating in an abrupt and
out-of-place cliffhanger finale that won't ever be resolved thanks to the
series' cancellation.

Though they are annoying, the side trips make you appreciate the legal
aspects even more. There are fewer court cases this time around, but a wider
exploration of English law spices up the proceedings. The writers also aren't
afraid to let unpleasant litigants be innocent or to portray the guilty in a
sympathetic light, resulting in much more realistic outcomes than its American
counterparts. New Street Law also differs from American shows in its
realistic blend of talent; rather than wall-to-wall "young, attractive, and
white," it includes a wide mix of races and sexualities working at all
levels of the judicial system and on both sides of the law. Annie's paraplegic
husband takes a backseat this season, but openly gay Chamber's clerk Al gets a
wider role and a major plotline for Chris Gascoyne to flex his acting muscles,
and his sexuality is a non issue.

Because of the dialogue-driven nature of the program, the 2.0 stereo is only
noticeable during the credits sequence, and the widescreen is nice but nothing
special. There are no extras on this set, despite claims on the Koch Web site of
outtakes and bloopers. Both my discs froze several times, but never skipped
ahead.

Closing Statement

New Street Law: The Complete Second Season has more of a junk food
feel than the first. The episodes are every bit as consumable, they just don't
satisfy as much. The move to a more character-oriented format is disappointing,
but the series is six hours of entertainment that flies by.

The Verdict

The show is guilty of messing with a winning formula, but based on prior good
behavior, it's free to go. See you later, litigators.